The closest thing to taking flight
by Avisian
Summary: A girl finds herself thrown into the world of One Piece after taking a nap and is extremely confused upon waking. She can already tell that she's going to end up adopting half the cast. Pending rewrite.
1. My wings aren't ready for this

Hi guys! This is my first One Piece fanfiction! I'm not sure when this will be updated, but hopefully, I'll march on forwards with it!

Please leave a review if you can! They make me more inclined to write, even if it's just a "Nice!" or an "I hate it!" The second one makes me more determined out of spite, lol.

Important info for where I'm heading with this, I don't plan on making this a romance. There might be a pairing, but it won't be the main point of the story.

Another point, I don't plan on killing any characters who are alive in the source material.

A picture of my OC will be on the archive of our own version, which shouldn't be too hard to find since it's under the same username.

Enjoy!

EDIT 07/06/18: I've improved since writing this chapter, and while I'm not at the stage where I want to rewrite it, I'd advise readers going in that the writing gets better. Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to continue!

* * *

Falling into another universe was a whole lot less interesting than she expected. For one, she was asleep at the time, and two, she hadn't realized she was in another universe until much later.

She supposed she should start the story off with the beginning, but where the beginning started was up for debate. Was it the start of her life in the old universe? Was it the start of her life in the new? She gave herself a headache just thinking about it.

Her name was Avery Celandine, she was 18 years old and tall enough to get on rides that required you to be over 160cm in height but somehow still managed to come off as a hobbit. Her hair was originally a thick dark brown mess, but she decided to cut it short and tint it purple. It ended up with a sort of reddish tinge, and she was going to dye it blonde before her hairdressers was caught in an arson attack.

She had also sort-of accidentally shaved off her eyebrows. It didn't have anything to do with the fall, but it was five days previous and so she decided that was the moment her luck started going downhill.

The day of the fall was the day after her grandfather's funeral and subsequent family event right outside her temporary bedroom door, where everyone got drunk and stayed up until midnight. Needless to say, she was exhausted.

After countless futile attempts to fend off sleep, she finally succumbed at noon and woke up on a long stretch of beach with an uncomfortable amount of shells digging into her back. She'd rate it as the third worst nap she'd ever had, which wasn't saying much because all naps for Avery left her tired and hungry.

Speaking of food, there were an absurd amount of coconut trees considering she had gone to bed on the border between England and Scotland. She was starting to get the feeling that either she'd taken something that had an adverse reaction to her anxiety medication, making her hallucinate her surroundings or something entirely inexpiable was going on.

Sitting up from her bed of shells, she tried her best to look around without her glasses. Realizing that was stupid because she had just spotted the wolf backpack that she hadn't even taken to England, – what the fuck, – she rummaged about for her glasses and finding them, popped them on.

Everything was so blue. The ocean was the lightest shade of blue she had ever seen, and she could just about make out small fish wriggling through the waves. The sky as well, looked a shade she had never seen outside of paintings, and lazy clouds were floating their way across the canvas of blue.

She was starting to suspect she had been in a fugue state of some kind after returning to her home in Scotland. Perhaps she had packed her bags and found herself on the other side of the globe? She bet that the best thing to do in this situation was to try to find her phone, assuming fugue-her had kept it charged. Since Avery in her right mind was a disorganized clutz, she really doubted her other self would be any better.

Looking through her backpack, she realized that she didn't have her phone with her, but had instead packed her trusty book 'Pirates', a fidget spinner, and an empty bottle of water with the label removed. She would have laughed if she wasn't so confused and upset with her situation.

Avery decided that in order to find out what happened, she was going to have to get up and find people who hopefully spoke English. Her French and Japanese were passable but only for introductions and food items. Otherwise, everyone might have well spoke Greek to her, because she understood jack-all.

She secretly worried that even if the local people understood English, they wouldn't understand her accent. She didn't speak in a heavy brogue, and she had picked up Americanisms from watching TV, but her close family was either Northern English or Glaswegian, which tended to mix together and produce strange effects.

Trying to get up was an ordeal and a half. She had to wiggle her hands a bit to get moving otherwise she would just sit there until she found the willpower to move. The wiggles worked, and she unsteadily got to her feet by rocking a little, her complete lack of muscle and considerable weight not helping matters.

Rubbing her sore backside, she glared at the shells and tried to calm herself down. She didn't know how long she had been off her meds, but she wasn't showing any signs of withdrawal, so either she had been taking them recently, or she had been off them so long that she'd completely skipped the shakes and left those to her fugue-self.

...Avery missed home.

She didn't know how long it had been since she had seen her younger cousins or her friends.

She was scared, she was crying, but she was determined.


	2. Imbued with sunlight

"Are you alright dear?"

After walking for over 30 minutes in the heat with little shade or shelter to be found, the kind voice of an elderly sounding lady was a welcome sound. Squinting in the direction the voice came from, Avery could see a lady of about seventy years who was carrying a basket full of what looked to be herbs.

"I don't know where I am!" she said, thanking all gods she could think of that the woman spoke English.

"You're on Cozia island lass. Did your ship break on the rocks?"

The lady looked worried in the way that only women over the age of fifty seemed to manage.

"I'm not sure, I just woke up on a beach and I haven't heard of Cozia before! What country are we in?"

Avery was emotionally and physically reaching her limit as she had never dealt with anxiety or heat very well.

"We're in the East Blue dear, although our island isn't part of any country. If you'd like, I can take you back to my family home and get you settled. I won't take no for an answer!"

Avery knew that she wasn't supposed to trust strangers, but considering the situation and the strangeness of it all, she decided to make an exception. She didn't really have any better options available.

"Thank you so much, how far away is your house?" She fidgeted, feeling self conscious as she followed the little woman into the trees.

Then, realizing she hadn't told the lady her name, "My name is Avery." She said.

"Lovely name for a lovely lass. I'm called Mama Josie. The trip shouldn't take long, we're practically in my garden!"

Shuffling along, Avery couldn't help but hope she wasn't walking into some sort of slasher film. The heat was making her head fuzzy, and her legs felt like they could give out on her at any moment. She really hoped Mama Josie had the same definition of a long trip.

Mama Josie seemed to pick up on her exhaustion.

"Are you alright dear? Would you like me to carry your bag for you?"

She was tired, but she wasn't so tired that she would let a nice old lady carry her backpack for her.

"No it's fine, I'm just not used to the heat is all."

Humming, Mama Josie seemed to let it go and went back to staring straight forward at their path. It wasn't paved, but there was something of an animal trail, and they only irregularly stopped to swat away branches. On one such occasion, Avery accidentally walked right into one and had to readjust her glasses.

"Be careful lass! We wouldn't want to dent that pretty face of yours!" Chuckling, the little old lady waited for Avery to catch back up.

After fifteen minutes had passed, she started to realise that Mama Josie did in fact, have a completely different sense of time to Avery, as she kept getting "encouragements" from the tanned woman.

"Only half way there!" Was quick becoming her least favourite sentence uttered, although she doubted it could beat "It won't hurt a bit!" or "Avery, how did you 'accidentally' shave your eyebrows?"

She envied people whose thighs didn't chafe, and whose bodies didn't produce unnatural amounts of sweat when doing exercise. The only thing she could truly be thankful for is that her period was always late. She didn't have to worry about it now, and hopefully she wouldn't have to worry about it anytime soon.

"We're here! Lets get you fed and watered."

Nearly crying from relief, she followed Mama Josie up the now pebbled path, and quickly they approached a fairly big cottage that seemed to bustle with activity. She really hoped it wasn't a crack den.

"Girls! I'm home!"

With a loud cry, the floodgates opened and a seemingly endless parade of women barrelled out of the front door.

"Mama! Stop wandering off without telling anyone you're leaving!" Was the only sentence Avery could hear over the utter pandemonium that seemed to have taken over a good swathe of the garden.

Avery felt that this was a really good place to faint, with nice soft pebbles and countless feet waiting to trample her. She swayed rather dramatically, and to cries of alarm fainted dead away.


	3. Falling far from the tree

Tell me if you see any typos, and don't forget to check the ao3 version for images of the characters!

* * *

Waking up was not Avery's forte. The cotton sheets she was lying on were soft, the sun through the window casting shadows across the room.

She wasn't really sure where she was, but she was alone and this was probably as good a time as ever to make shadow puppets.

The trick to a good shadow puppet, Avery thought, was to make sure you knew what you were going for. Avery did not know what she was going for, ever, at any time, in her entire life.

Avery was not good at making shadow puppets.

Fighting the urge to spend five more minutes in bed, she decided to get up and explore.

She failed to do this.

A good 10 minutes later, she heard through her mind-fog a set of footsteps coming towards her door – they were light, she thought, and she didn't recognise them.

"Miss? Are you up yet?" The voice from outside the door asked.

Avery actually preferred being called Mr, but she didn't think she could speak right now.

"Mmgh." Avery groaned, and in a lack of foresight, rolled out of bed straight onto the hard wooden floorboards.

"Are you alright?! I'm comin' in."

Before she could express her displeasure, the owner of the voice stepped into the room.

Avery thought she was in love.

The lady before her was a good deal taller than Avery, with lovely russet hair and a hazel doe eye. Squinting, Avery could make out a sharp nose and freckles. Avery was absolutely ready to put her glasses on.

Giggling, Avery said "I'm alright, I just fell. Fell for you that is!"

The other girl snorted in the cute sort of way that people do when they're laughing, and rolling her eye, grabbed Avery's arms before pulling her upright.

"Thanks! Do you know where my glasses are?" Still smiling, she tried her best to hold herself up.

"Yep, we've got 'em on one of the cabinets. Can you stand up yoursel' or do you need help wi' that?"

"I think I've got it handled, thanks." Avery lied.

The lady seemed to know this, so after giving her a look softened by her wry looking smile, she sat her down on the bed.

"I'll be back soon enough."

The lady closed the door behind her, leaving Avery to wonder where on earth she was, and who these people where.

What did the old lady mean by "East Blue" anyway?

Leaning back with her hands holding her up, she kicked her legs and chewed on her lip. She always moved when she was anxious.

She thought East Blue was maybe the native way of saying they were in the region of the Indian or Pacific Oceans. She'd never heard of an island called Cozia before, so she doubted she was near the Canary Islands, which were in the Atlantic Ocean besides. Maybe off the coast of Italy? Still Atlantic but a little more East.

Groaning, she flopped back down onto the bed. As soon as she did, the door opened.

"Can't leave you alone for two shakes without you fallin' back asleep huh." The beautiful woman was back with her glasses but not her bag, she noticed.

"I think I'd fall asleep even if I wasn't alone, honestly." Yawning, Avery sat up and stretched.

"Well, I can speak for that. You gave me an' my sisters a right scare you did, faintin' like that."

Avery found the accent charming, but highly confusing. She sounded somewhat like she was from Northern England, but they were on a tropical island and the lady looked local, despite sounding different from her grandmother(?)

"Sorry I scared you, I've never actually fainted before. I think I was just tired."

Attempting to get up, Avery felt jelly-legged and a lot older than she actually was. She managed it though, if only because there was a pretty lady who had her glasses right in front of her.

"What's your name by the way?"

The woman looked confused by Avery's question, before becoming slightly flustered.

"Celia. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you, Granny's been talkin' up a storm about you, so we all know your name and a little bit of me thought you'd know mine."

Celia handed Avery her glasses once she'd managed to get upright.

"Are you sure you're fine? Most people don't take so long to get up." Celia looked a little like she thought Avery was going to reprimand her for being rude.

"I'm not sure at all, I can't remember how I got here and I fainted. Last I remember I was in bed, and I don't have my medication with me!" She felt the anxiety of the situation wash over her.

"Oh my, let me get you a glass of water and my mama will look you over. I'll be back soon enough and it'll be all better – you'll see!" With a smile that was meant to be reassuring, Celia quickly left the room.

Meanwhile, Avery was fending off hyperventilation. She was rather glad Celia had left. She had never dealt with panic attacks well if other people were crowding her, even if they were too beautiful for their own good.

She really just wanted to go home.


	4. Wings to rest

Diana's first impression of the girl her mother had brought home with her was that she was young. Avery had a sort of aura around her that spoke for her age more than her physical appearance. Her second impression of the girl was that she was _loud._

Telling her daughter to wait outside the door so as not to crowd their guest, she slowly made her way over to the chair beside the bed and sat down. Diana had a lot of experience with panic attacks herself, and even if she didn't the emotions she was picking up on clued her in to the best actions to take.

Opening a drawer and pulling out a blanket, she gently wrapped it around Avery's shoulders and sat with her as she tried to calm herself down. From the sound of Avery's presence, as well as her sobbing, Diana could tell that the girl wasn't able to focus on words and that trying to help her verbally would have the opposite effect intended.

It was a gift Diana had, that she could sense emotions in other people and sometimes even tell where they were on the island. None of her sisters had the gift, and though accepting they didn't quite understand, so she preferred to keep it to herself. Lord knows the family needed any more drama, her mother alone was more dramatic than any regular family she had ever met.

Sensing that it was okay to hug the girl, she brought Avery into her arms and rocked her slowly. This made her start crying again but both of them knew it was best to get it out before trying to face Avery's issues. Handing her a water bottle Diana had in one of her many pockets, Diana wondered just where the hell this girl had came from.

* * *

Josie was downright gleeful at all the attention she was receiving. She felt for the poor girl of course, and was redirecting the attention of her family to herself to spare Avery the discomfort. Naturally, she took advantage of the situation and basked in the spot-light.

"Does she really have no eyebrows Nana? I didn't get to see her 'cause everyone was in front of my wheelie-chair."

The voice of her youngest grandchild brought a smile to Josie's face.

"She didn't have any that I could see dear."

Sitting back in her rocking chair, Josie's mind wandered. The girl she had brought to her family home was a mystery. She didn't show any recognition at the name 'Cozia', and Josie would let that go as the girl being unaware of geography- if not for the fact that she didn't show any recognition at 'East Blue' either. Mama Josie would admit to herself that she was worried.

"Nana you're doin' the thing again!" Huffing, her granddaughter Agua puffed up with agitation.

"Hmm? Oh, so I am." Josie drew her attention back to the present, and took in the scene of her living-room.

Her children and their children were sitting around her on various mismatching chairs and sofas. An untold amount of kids perched on armrests or sat in their parent's laps.

Agua was flicking her tail in a tell of annoyance and her fins had flared up at noticing her grandmother's further distraction. Josie couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

"Agh Nana! Stop laughin' at me!" Agua pouted.

Always quick to anger she was, just like her mother. Josie smiled indulgently at her, and found herself lost in thought again. It was a bit of a bad habit of hers lately, with all the strange things that seemed to attach themselves to her family.

Mama Josie supposed that given her history, it was only natural she was seemingly cursed to run into the most interesting objects and people on the island. Heaven knows half of her own children had resulted from said people.

Sighing wistfully, she remembered Agua's grandfather like it was yesterday. A handsome young fishman had gotten caught in her net, and cutting him free had started the friendship that would soon turn into a torrid romance that her parents hadn't approved of.

Of course, since Josie had already had multiple boyfriends previous, each stranger than the last, her parents had given up by the time Agua's mother was born. They were just lucky she hadn't set her sights on a giant! Josie wasn't entirely sure how such pregnancies would work with a human mother, but she would have found a way to make it work. Daydreaming so deeply, she didn't hear the conversation held between two of her eldest.

"She's completely gone isn't she."

"Da, looks that way."

"Want to go check on the girl?"

"Da, sounds great."

They didn't bother to get up from their seats.


	5. Little bird

To be entirely fair, Avery was a dumbass when she was upset. Spending a week with the Mama family- and wasn't it a shock to find out that it was Josie's family name! - should have keyed her in to the fact that she clearly wasn't in her own world.

Asking about technology more advanced than a fridge got her confused stares. They seemed to have no idea what a telephone was, and the latest technology seemed to be gas lamps. Asking for more direct locations than "East Blue" got her nowhere, and she was about ready to pull her hair out until she noticed it.

"It" being the tail on one of the elder sisters.

Now, Avery would have been willing to put it down to her being a furry if not for the fact that things she hadn't put thought into before suddenly started grappling for her attention.

Agua who wore long skirts and the glimpses she would get of scales.

The swords she had seen Diana using.

The knife she was almost certain Josie had strapped to her thigh.

The various disabilities the girls had.

The eye Celia had admitted to losing 6 months previous.

The reaction she got when she brought up anything related to the government.

The fact that she was in the bloody _East Blue_

Avery came to the sudden and terrifying conclusion she should have reached a week ago, and wept.


	6. Winging it

Hi guys!

My muse is being annoying so I'm giving myself a Naruto style pep-talk right now

"My readers are counting on me! I'll never give up! That's my ninja way!"

* * *

Crying wore Avery out quickly. With all the worrying and fussing and weeping she'd been doing recently, she was amazed she hadn't turned into a human fountain.

One of the many quirks that Avery had was that she couldn't cry without laughing afterwards. This had led to many awkward social encounters in the past, but she was thanking the heavens for it now.

Well. She was thanking them for giving her a happiness-high, not the fact that she had just suddenly burst into tears and started giggling in the middle of the living-room.

"Dear girl, are you alright?"

The woman who had the tail was hovering over her, fluttering hands and all.

Standing at a good 6 foot tall, with as many piercings as a person could possibly wear without setting off a metal detector, she made an intimidating sight.

She would have anyway, if it weren't for the fact that Avery was both gay and moderately aware of body language. As it was, she just gave off a big sister vibe, and Avery could appreciate that.

Still going through an emotional whirlwind, she couldn't quite work out how to speak, and gave a thumbs-up instead.

"Alright. Well, if you need anything sweetheart you come get me and Ida will sort you out."

With a gentle pat on the shoulders, Ida smiled reassuringly and left Avery to her own devices.

She still wasn't sure if being attracted to Ida made her a furry.

* * *

Three days later saw Avery and Celia digging for clams. She was still liable to falling into bursts of heart-wrenching sobs, but Celia seemed to know just what to do to make her feel better and less like a freeloader.

It certainly helped that Celia seemed to appreciate her terrible jokes, and the fact that she was in another world meant that nobody but her knew the punchlines.

"Celia. Celia, I've got another one! What do you do if you're attacked by a group of clowns?"

"Do I want to know?"

"You go for the _juggler."_

"Tell another joke like that an' I'll go for _your_ jugular!"

Both of them were laughing so hard they were wheezing.

"Celia. I've. I've got an even better one."

"Avery you're going to kill us!"

"I used to search for shellfish at the beach."

"What?"

" _I USED TO SEARCH FOR SHELLFISH AT THE BEACH. I STOPPED WHEN I PULLED A MUSSEL."_

"NO!"

By this point they'd abandoned the pretense of searching for clams and had thrown themselves down onto the sand, crying with laughter.

It took another 10 minutes before they could dust themselves off and continue the hunt.

Digging for clams required patience, Avery soon found out. There were no clam shovels, and all the digging was done by hand. They spent minutes searching for water spurting out of the sand, and when it finally happened she was ill-prepared for the size of the behemoth.

"Celia what the fuck is that."

Pulling a clam the size of her head out of the hole they had dug, Celia stared at Avery funnily.

"A young one, by the looks of it. Have you never seen an East Blue mammoth clam before?"

"That thing is a juvenile?"

Avery had forgotten how big things could get in One Piece. Sometimes she even forgot she wasn't in her world anymore.

"Yeah, the adults grow about twice as big. Don't let 'em bite you!"

Carrying the clam like it was nothing, Celia made sure to put it down in a rocky pool far from the beach.

"You want to make sure they can't scurry away into the sand like."

Avery thought she might be in love.


	7. A wish to fly

"Do you want to go back to the place you landed all muddled like? We might find some of your stuff!"

This whole family was made of _angels._

"If it's not a bother to you?"

Instead of replying, Celia took Avery's hand and dragged her along until her brain caught up with her legs.

"Hold on! Some of us have short little limbs y'know!"

All she got in reply was a fondly exasperated look, and an increase in walking speed.

Sometimes Celia seemed a bit like a demon. Tough love, and all that.

At the pace they were going, they managed to get to the beach in 10 minutes at the cost of Avery's breath. She had thought her eyebrows growing back was a sign of good luck returning after a long, long, absence, but this trip was really testing that belief.

"Huh. I've never seen a fruit like that before."

Slowly lifting her head to look at what Celia was talking about, Avery caught sight of something she would rather have chucked into the ocean than set eyes upon.

Laying on the ground next to the palm trees was a fruit.

It looked similar to a coconut at first glance, but closer inspection would show that it was a lighter color, with the hairs looking almost like feathers and a pattern of swirls on every visible surface.

"Holy shit."

Avery wasn't sure what to do. She felt an inexplicable pull towards the fruit, and the more she tugged at the feeling the more it felt out of place.

"Are you okay?"

She should reply to Celia, she was probably worried after all.

But.

The fruit.

Wouldn't it help the family who had taken her in to have a devil fruit user around to assist them? Celia certainly couldn't eat it, the girl was practically raised in the water and to take that from her would be cruel.

Walking closer to the fruit, she wondered how it would feel against her hands, and how it would taste in her mouth. Surely not that bad, she would just open her mouth and bite it and that would be that, right?

"Avery what are you doing?"

The voice was barely a whisper compared to the overwhelming urge to eat but it still gave her pause. The person known as Avery was torn. She knew this wasn't normal behavior but she couldn't find it in her to worry. Why should she? The person known as Avery would be able to help more if she had an ability.

He didn't want to feel useless.

With shaking hands, he picked up the fruit and bit into it.

She realized the consequences of what she had just done when she tasted the sour flavor of rot on her tongue.

* * *

Note: the pronoun change at the end was intentional, not a typo

Please leave a review to let me know what you liked, or go check out the ao3 version! It has art!

...Character creator art, but still!


	8. Caught in flight

This is a double update, so please make sure you've read the previous chapter before reading this one!

* * *

Avery wasn't sure what just happened. She was, however, sure that if it ever happened again she would be beating it off with a broom. A metaphorical one of course, she didn't want to damage anything belonging to her new friends.

She was pretty sure she was a guy for a few seconds?

She'd figure out her gender once she had gotten the rotten taste out of her mouth.

Retching, while rewarding, was a very tiring and uncomfortable job.

More so when your newfound friend and crush was holding your hair up and _fussing._

"What just happened Avery? Why would you eat that? Don't you know not to eat strange fruit? Why didn't you reply when I asked what was wrong?"

All of the Mama family were unbelievable _fussers._ Avery had stubbed her toe a week ago and she was treated like a newborn for the next two days. She still caught Diana, Celia's mother, moving furniture out of the way whenever the lady knew she was coming.

She wasn't sure how Diana knew her whereabouts at all times, but it was goddamn annoying. She couldn't so much as pee without worrying that Diana could sense it, somehow.

"Avery don't avoid my question! Oh wait, you're vomitin' so you can't answer, right."

 _Fussers._

Getting back on track after all of the no-doubt exciting events, Celia and Avery split up to check the bushes around the beach. In Celia's words:

"Don't get up to any more trouble like. I know you like trouble, but trouble gives me hives an' I don't want it. Do you want me to break out in hives Avery? No? Don't go lookin' for trouble then."

The words were offset by the giggly tone Celia said them in, and the friendly and exasperated look being shot her way, so Avery didn't take any offence. She was a trouble-magnet after all.

She didn't find anything on her side of the bushes, but Celia had let out a little 'aha!' noise a couple minutes previous so Avery felt confident in assuming that some of her stuff must have found itself over there.

Meanwhile, Avery couldn't stop thinking about what she had eaten. She wasn't even sure she swallowed anything, but she had a feeling that her life wouldn't let it be that simple.

...Maybe that was the feeling of an empty and roiling stomach, but she knew to trust in such things. The last time she had ignored her instincts she guessed her cousins favourite color wrong and such things were not allowed. She had to be right always, damn it.

She was joking, mostly. She did have a serious superiority/inferiority complex when it came to questions and academia, but she had been getting better. Dropping out of school had helped, and now that she was far away from everything she had worried about before she fell, she felt free, almost.

There she went again, rambling. She could never stay on subject. Finding objects, right.

Wait no. She wanted to think on this more. There was nothing on her side of the bushes and she knew it. Introspection waits for no man, and she was on a roll here.

She had lost contact with all of her loved ones. That was a pretty glaring problem. She was missing her cats, she had no pyjamas, and she only had one book to her name.

On the other hand, she had met so many kind new people, she hadn't heard a single voice raised against her and everyone was willing to let her go at her own pace. She knew it wouldn't last, that pirates or marines or some sea monster would break the peace, but she found herself wishing she could stay right where she was.

She hadn't even gone into withdrawal for her medication which. Implied things she was uncomfortable thinking about.

Avery didn't like to think of how she had gotten here.

"Stop lollygaggin' and get out of the bushes or you'll start growin' leaves!"

Avery wondered when Celia had gotten comfortable enough around her to playfully insult her. She couldn't remember a single moment, exactly, but she enjoyed it.

It meant that Avery could hear Celia giggle, and it meant she could join in.

"Leaf me alone!"

"Avery I swear."

Alright, that wasn't her best joke but she had so little material to work with, give her a break.

Crawling out of the bushes, Avery pushed herself up and then promptly fell on her back. She much preferred it this way.

"Are you a sloth or a person Avery."

"I'm a bush, remember?"

"Alright that does it!"

Celia tried to heft Avery up by her underarms, but she wasn't having it. Being dead-weight was way too much fun. Or it was, until Celia pulled out her metaphorical can of super strength and hauled Avery up while crouching, a miraculous feat given both their sizes.

The angel theory was becoming more and more plausible.

"Do you want to know what I found or not bushgirl?"

Now firmly on her feet, Avery made grabby-hands for whatever Celia had in her bag.

She hoped it was her phone and a new solar-charger, but she didn't own one of those so she was really pushing it with that one.

Opening her bag, Celia pulled out…

a tablet?

It wasn't one Avery owned, but she thought it looked like an e-reader.

A gift from the divine?

Maybe Steve Jobs or the e-reader equivalent had descended in angel form and sent it her way.

Good advertising, maybe.

She hoped the battery was infinite. She could really do with a book right now.

Watching her curiously, Celia handed her the tablet and stood back to give her some space.

Clicking the button, Avery turned on the e-reader and.

Well.

She wasn't sure how to react really.

The reader had all of her favourite fairy tales, the battery was full and Avery was crying, as per usual.


	9. Faith is to have wings

After a freak-out and lots of commentary from Celia -

"Avery are you alright?!"

"Are you hurt?"

"What the fuck is that thing?!"

\- Avery was in the giggle stage. Everything was just so _funny_ right now and Celia really wasn't helping.

"It's – ah, stop looking at me like that you're making me laugh – it's a kind-of book thing? Like a little library made of metal!"

Celia's look of disbelief became more pronounced.

Avery was starting to become a bit light-headed, so she sat down.

"Right. So there's. Uh. Wow. Alright, I've never heard of anythin' like that before. Just who are you exactly bushgirl?"

"We're not keeping that as a nickname. I resent it and I curse your family's goats and livestock."

"We don't have goats an' you're not gettin' out of the question Avery."

Avery wasn't sure if she was capable of explaining what exactly she was. It wasn't that she didn't trust the Mama family and Celia, but she felt like if she told someone it would become more real.

"I…I don't know exactly how to, uh, explain that."

"...Alright. I trust you so I'm not goin' to ask if you don't want to answer, but if you hurt my family there isn't a rock you could hide behind that wouldn't be rubble by the time I'm done with you. Clear?"

"...Clear. Have I told you that you're hot when you're being threatening?"

"Not the time bushgirl."

"Oy!"

After everything that happened, Avery felt closer to Celia somehow. Maybe it was because they had reached an understanding, but Avery now felt comfortable enough to ask questions she had thought too rude to ask.

"So uh, why are there no guys? Or, at least none that I've seen, or that look like guys? I mean there might be guys that look like ladies but-"

"...They died. Same time that I lost my eye."

"Oh... I'm really sorry, do you want to talk about it?"

"Thanks, but there isn't much to talk about. Just don't bring it up around Agua like. She lost her momma."

"She was…?"

"Captured. Mermaids go for high prices y'know?"

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. You aren't the one who attacked us."

"Who did?"

"Germa 66. Bunch of knobs and wankers. If they were here now I'd prob'ly – well, lets say there wouldn't be a force on heaven or earth that could stop me from killing them."

"I'd kick them in the dick for y'all."

"Thanks Avery. You aren't that good at comfortin' people are you?"

Celia flashed a little smile.

"Hey! I have great people skills for someone who's an only child!"

"So not that great then?"

Avery was happier than she ever thought she could be, given the circumstances.


	10. flutter of a butterfly's wing

Avery had a lot to unpack when she went to bed. Mentally of course; everything she owned could fit into a backpack.

Even with all the noises of the house, creaking and groaning with footsteps and muffled voices, she couldn't quite shut out her thoughts.

Celia talking about Germa…. It made everything seem urgent. Avery felt like she needed to come up with a timeline. It was stressing her out that she didn't know what happened to Cozia after the Germa attack.

Speaking of, that was when Sanji ran away, right? She thinks so. He would be around 8 at the time?

...She really needed something to write on.

Rolling over on the bed to reach her tablet on the floor, she gave it a cursory look-over for scratches before turning it on. Avery wasn't quite sure that e-readers had a writing option, but she was willing to try if it meant getting to use something other than charcoal.

A lot of fiddling around later, she figured out that she could write using her fingertip, which while messy, was a lot less likely to make her hands a smudged black mess.

It was based on guess-work and further complicated by the fact that she didn't know what month it was, but she had a rough timeline.

Year -11

Gol D. Roger dies and starts a new pirate era

Year -1

Germa attacks, Sanji escapes

Year 0

I arrive on island, Luffy is 7 years old and gets his hat from Shanks

Year 1

Sometime in Year 0 or Year 1 Corazon dies and Sabo joins revolutionary army(?)

Year 2

Zeff & cannibalism (Poor guy. Poor Sanji. Why couldn't I have ended up in a shoujo manga.)

Year 3

Nami incident(?) Not too sure on this one.

Year 7

Ace leaves dawn at the start of the year – his birthday is Jan 1st right?

Year 10

Luffy leaves dawn around May 5th (I remember that!)

Marineford

Year 12

Timeskip

Looking at it all laid out like that, Avery was starting to think she should probably find a nice spring island under protection from one of the nicer pirate crews and spend the rest of her days running an orphanage.

...She really wanted to meet the strawhats and Ace when they were kids.

She also didn't want to mess up the timeline or get involved with anything dangerous or highly illegal.

Babies were one of Avery's many, many, weaknesses.

If it came down to it, she presumably had a devil fruit, and Avery really hoped it was a logia. Knowing her luck, she'd end up like that one guy who had explosive snot. The image of her frantically picking her nose while someone came at her with a sword wasn't exactly reassuring.

She could probably convince Celia to let her around sharp objects right? It couldn't hurt to have some experience with knives in this hell world.

(It really could.)


	11. Diving into the rapids

It turns out that Avery was terrible with sharp objects. It was to be expected really, she hadn't any experience fighting with anything other than her body.

"You have a hand tremor?"

Diana was attempting to teach her how to throw knives.

"Yeah, it acts up when I do something with them."

"I think knife throwing will have to wait for another day then. You said you weren't interested in close combat?"

"I'd prefer ranged if possible."

"A Bō might work."

"A staff?"

"Yes, although I'm not to proficient with staves. You'll have to ask Ale for help with that."

* * *

Ale turned out to be a sixteen year old girl with dreadlocks and a prosthetic leg that looked pricey.

"Oh! Avery! We haven't met since I've been in my workshop and you've been off with Celia, but I'm Ale!"

Avery had the feeling that if texting existed here, Ale would use emojis every other word.

"It's nice to meet you! You have a workshop?"

"Uhuh! Metalwork mostly, but I do a bit of woodworking and glassblowing now and then."

"That's really cool! What kinds of things do you make?"

"Vases and tables, but sometimes if my auntie Ida is out, I'll get to make tools and weapons!"

"Ah, speaking of weapons, I heard you're the girl to go to if I need a staff?"

"Oh, what kind are you looking for? We've got Bō, Jō and Hanbō staves in the weapon room."

"A Bō, I think. Diana said that it might be a good idea."

"Alright, I have some free time since Auntie's working. It's super cramped and hot in there so nobody wants to be cooped up with another person."

Ale and Avery walked to the weapons shed, but before they could get there Ale stopped, looking puzzled.

"Avery?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you always have feathers?"

Avery's response was drowned out by the sound of a bull's bellow.

"Alright, I'm pretty sure you weren't able to do that a few seconds ago!"

Avery was trying not to panic. She knew that she had probably eaten a Zoan devil fruit, but _you_ try telling someone to calm down when they're slowly transforming into a bird.

 _ **"BWOOM?"**_

"Avery that's not a word!"

 _ **"Hu hu hu bwoo!"**_

" _Come back to the light Avery!"_

She could feel her bones shifting and settling, her mouth changing into a beak, her hands becoming wings. It wasn't exactly painful, but the sensation of something shifting beneath her skin was far from pleasant.

Finally settling, Avery realized she hadn't shrunk much at all. Whatever she was, she was damned tall for a bird.

(She secretly hoped she was a dinosaur.)

"Oh what the fuck."

Turning her head round to Ale, she blinked her third eyelids and raised a wing in a slow wave. For some unknown reason, she had stopped panicking once she had transformed.

"Alright. Uh, let's get you to a lake or something."

Waddling after Ale, staves forgotten, Avery had time to look over her body.

She had large webbed feet, and a seemingly endless neck – one longer than her body even. She was white in color, with the sort of curved beak you would see on an eagle, except it was much longer.

A few miles of walking later, after which Avery was feeling surprisingly energetic, they arrived at a stream. Peering into the water, it was difficult to tell what kind of bird she was. Certainly not one she had ever seen in her world. Maybe it was a kind only found here?

She looked sort of like a cormorant or a great auk, definitely a water bird. Unfortunate, considering Avery can no longer swim.

Trying to use her voice again, what came out was not quite what she had in mind.

 _ **"** **Hu Huuw Hu Bwo."**_

She sounded like a weird mix between a bull and a bittern, lots of bellowing and deep noises.

...She thinks she knows what bird she is.

Mythological zoan huh? She really would have preferred a logia.

* * *

Authors notes:

Next time on TCTTTF, what kind of bird is Avery? Will Ale ever recover? Why is Ale named after an alcoholic beverage? (It's a shortened form of Alexandria - the only answer you are getting this chapter lol. I'd love to hear guesses as to what you think Avery is!)

(The amount of bird foreshadowing I have been doing is unholy. Look up both "Avery" and "Celandine" and you'll see what I mean.)

Question for this chapter, do you have a favourite mythical creature? What is it and why?

My favourite are the fair folk, or maybe mermaids. Not the nice kind, mind you! The scary ones.


	12. Wind under

After a semi-frantic attempt to return back to being human, Avery was once again in possession of arms. Ale still had enough free-time to take her to the weapons shed and give her a staff. At nearly 2 meters tall, it left Avery feeling a little like Gandalf.

"...You really have no idea what you're doing with your body let alone a weapon, huh."

After those inspiring words, Ale started on teaching her how to properly fall.

"I just don't understand why Auntie Diana didn't teach you this first? I mean-"

"Oh no she did, I just uh. Really hurt myself doing it when I was 10 and ever since I've had an aversion to forward rolls. I know it sounds silly but I just have a really hard time trying to continue through with the roll instead of freezing."

Avery shuffled her feet a little while Ale looked contemplative.

"Alright, I think I know how to do this. If it doesn't work this way, tell me and I'll switch it up! It's not your fault at all you know."

Avery knew the technique, she just had to work on confidence.

"We're gonna get into position - Good form Avery! - and we're going to roll back a little and then roll forward back into our starting position. Here, watch me."

After a lot of little steps like that, Avery found herself successfully completing a roll.

"I did it! I'm going to learn how to cartwheel next and there's nobody alive who could stop me!"

"I can teach you that as well, if you'd like? We'll have to stretch first of course."

Avery spent the next hour learning all kinds of tricks from Ale that she never thought she'd be capable of. If they had bikes here, she was sure Ale would be able to get her riding proficiently in five minutes despite Avery's coordination and balance problems.

"You're not weak or inflexible, as long as you have confidence and work on your cardio you should be great in no time!"

Avery was totally gonna incorporate all of this into her fighting style, just you watch.

* * *

After the session with Ale, Avery took her fitness a lot more seriously. Now that she knew it wasn't beyond her reach, she started going on runs, collecting all sorts of things that the Mama family needed.

In the evenings she would spin her staff to improve the muscles in her arms, and do stretches to improve her flexibility – not that it needed much help, Avery was hypermobile. She had read somewhere that Autism and hypermobility were linked somehow, but she tended to view it as part of her autism rather than a separate thing. Her autism was what caused her coordination and balance issues after all, and when you combined that with hypermobility it meant a whole lot of sprains.

Stretching in the mornings seemed to help with that particular worry of hers though.

Along with the self-training, many of the sisters were teaching her different parts of their fighting styles. Most were basic self-protection, but there were others that incorporated dance. Those were Avery's favorites.

In private, she was trying to unlock Observation Haki. Avery wasn't sure that she was capable, being born in a different world, but the fact that she had been able to gain a devil fruit ability despite that was promising.

She really didn't like it, but the best way she could think to go about it was throwing things in the air and then trying to avoid them with her eyes closed. She ended up with bruises when she used rocks, but that would also in theory help her unlock armament haki, and she really couldn't afford to skimp out.

She didn't know if the randomness of where the rocks fell would stop her from getting any benefit from this. She didn't really care though – she could always ask for a spar and it would likely help towards her goal.

It was supposed to be secret, but Diana had, of course, found out.

"Interesting training you're taking part in."

Avery just about jumped out of her skin, further proof that she needed to work on her observation, haki or otherwise.

Turning around to look at Diana, she couldn't help but wonder if the uncanny ability Diana had to find her was in fact observation haki.

"Are you looking to unlock your mantra?"

That gave Avery pause. Mantra was what they called Haki in the sky islands, but she hadn't seen wings on Diana.

"I'll take that as a yes then. How did a girl like you find out about _that_?"

"…" Avery wasn't sure how to respond.

"It's alright to have secrets, I suppose. Would you like help unlocking it? You're not going to find a better teacher in this blue, that's for damn sure."

Nodding her head, Avery had no idea what she had just signed up for. Months of harsh training awaited until finally, in the winter, she had done it. She had awakened her Haki.


	13. Four wings

Winter came, and with it, a boy.

Cozia didn't experience snowfall, but it did have a very distinct rainy season.

Avery was walking along the beach, trying to cover herself with a cardigan she had wrapped over her head, when she felt it. Her Observation Haki was limited to small areas, but she knew all of the Mama family's auras and this was certainly not one of theirs.

It felt like a storm, rising winds and lightning. Whoever it was, they were dangerous.

"I wasn't quite expecting this."

Avery jolted, turning around to face the owner of the voice. Even with her Haki as weak as it was, she should have been able to pinpoint his location. The fact that she couldn't was alarming.

Perched on a palm tree was an enormous man of about 8ft in height, with wings the length of a truck and claws that could rip open anything with the lightest pressure. With long blond hair and distinctly inhuman looking eyes, he could have maybe passed as a boy-next-door type, if the one looking at him was a 90 year old blind grandmother of six.

Avery was alarmed. She didn't recognize the boy, and he was obviously more powerful than anyone else she could sense in her range. If it came down to a fight, she would not win. She had to be careful.

"What were you expecting?" Avery was quite proud of herself for not freezing in place.

"Someone a little taller, certainly."

The boy shifted a little, and through the rain she could see that he was smiling. It would have been more comforting if his teeth weren't as sharp as knives.

"I like to think of myself as vertically-challenged."

Avery eyed him uncertainly.

"What is it that you want exactly?"

The boy huffed and then,

"Your voice. It's the loudest I've ever heard. Louder than even a thousand sea-kings. I want to know why."

He hopped down from his perch.

"My voice?"

Avery had a feeling he wasn't talking about her vocal cords.

"Yes. Everything has a voice that I can hear. Things that are deemed important or fearsome have the loudest voices. Yours is so loud that I could hear it from North Blue."

That was a lot to take in. Avery didn't really view herself as fearsome or important, and she couldn't think of anyone who saw her as either of those in the quantity that he was describing.

"You don't know for sure, but you have an inkling, yes? Do share with the class."

"..."

Avery wasn't sure that she should share the fact that she was from another world. While the boy didn't seem hostile, he was most certainly dangerous. She didn't want to piss him off by not telling him, but at the same time, the things that could be done with her knowledge….

"Fine. I suppose I'll just have to stick by you until you spill."

The boy started walking towards her and Avery warily turned her back on him, before she continued her trek through the sand.

"My name is Enna, by the way. I love how we're both sharing important information with each other."

Bird guy was apparently a master of snark.

"I am 19 years old, and an Aries. I have an AB blood type and am currently single."

If looks could kill, the sand that Avery was glaring at would spontaneously combust.

"Avery. 18. Leo-Virgo cusp. I have no goddamn clue what my blood type is and I'm still technically in a relationship."

She was so annoyed at this point that she had forgotten what she was concerned about.

"Still technically?"

Avery didn't like to lie, so half-truths it was.

"I haven't heard from them in months."

Enna appropriately decided to drop that line of questioning.

"Where are we going?"

Abruptly, Avery remembered who she was talking to.

8 foot tall harpy boy, right.

That would take some getting used to.

* * *

"Oh my god he finally added a male character and it only took 13 chapters!"

Enter Enna, our lovely plot device!

The gentle words of a reader touched me in my heart *wink wink* and I simply had to work out how to do what I wanted with Avery who is very much one person and is currently stationary. Then a lightbulb appeared above my head.

"By jove!" I cried.

"I've finally figured it out! Avery cannot be in two places at once so I will simply create another character!"

Enna's pretty cool right? He's a bit like if a duckling following you around was in fact a giant dragon after treasure.


	14. Wings talons and beaks

Honestly the most self-motivating thing is the knowledge that I can do whatever I want with this story. Main character is suddenly a bear? Main character has secretly been a bear in a wig the whole time? Gol. D Roger ghost romance? Anything is possible and I am living. (This chapter is alternately titled 'author loses his earthly tether and is now off the chain')

Please note, my main character is not a bear and never will be a bear, and nor will she romance the ghost of Roger. Ghost of Rouge on the other hand….

(Joking, joking!)

* * *

After a lot of stomping about in the rain, Avery was Not Happy. Her borrowed boots were soaked through with mud, her hair was dripping, and she was being followed by an enormous eight foot shadow.

Enna on the other hand, was having the time of his _life._

He splashed in every puddle and he could find, thoroughly drenching himself and Avery in the process.

Enna was, politely speaking, a dick.

When Avery pointed this out to him, he looked at her, said

"That's not actually polite."

and went right back to sticking his weird bird feet into the mud.

It didn't get better from there.

After Avery was finished with her ill-advised stroll — she needed to work on her cardio, damnit – it was time to head back to the house.

She couldn't get Enna to leave.

Begging and pleading didn't work, nor did threatening. By the time she had arrived at insulting his entire family line and their livestock, he had tuned her out and started plucking his feathers.

Resigned to her fate, she really hoped that Josie wouldn't mind taking in another stray.

Getting past the doorway proved a challenge for Enna, unsurprisingly. Being a very tall person came with a lot of bruises. So Avery had heard anyway, she herself was the size of a germ. Not literally of course, this wasn't Osmosis Jones.

...Anyway, after a lot of shuffling, he finally managed to get into the house, walking sidewards so his wings didn't bump against the door. If Avery wasn't so annoyed, she would have felt sorry for him. As it was she just laughed. She did have a bit of a napoleon complex after all.

Luckily for Enna, the ceiling was high enough that he could stretch comfortably, and still have room to spare. Avery really wanted to meet whoever had designed this house and then beg them to build her a cottage.

Taking off her boots and insisting Enna wiped his feet, she was sort-of expecting a reaction when she walked into the living room followed by a gigantic bird man.

Nobody seemed phased. She got a couple greetings and offers to join a few girls in sewing, but no-one seemed to notice Enna.

Avery would put this down to her hallucinating the entire episode, if not for the fact that her haki was still picking up on him. It was distorted somehow, but he was still clearly a living being.

...She really hoped that it wasn't possible to hallucinate through haki as well as at least two other senses. She'd only ever had olfactory hallucinations before and she wasn't looking for any more, thank you very much.

Climbing the stairs up to her room, she quickly stepped through the door, waited a few seconds for Enna, and then closed the door.

"Why can't they see you?"

Enna had made himself comfortable quickly, sitting on her bed and fiddling with her e-reader in awe.

"It's not just you. This… this thing has it's own voice! It's just covered by yours."

Avery filed that piece of information away, and asked again.

"When we were walking through the house, nobody but me could see you. Why is that?"

"Hm? Oh, I only appear to those who I want to be seen by."

Avery was alarmed by this.

"Does that include all senses? Like, haki and scent and stuff like that?"

Finally looking up from her e-reader, he looked like he had never considered asking that question before.

"I think all senses are covered, except heat and touch. I've never tested it though."

"Were you born like that, or is it a devil fruit ability…?"

Shuffling a little, Avery didn't want to sit on the bed. She would get her sheets wetter than they already were with Enna dripping all over them.

"Why can't it be both? But no, it's neither. It was gifted to me."

Avery really wished this guy would give a proper explanation for once in his life, but seeing as she wasn't willing to tell her secrets, she figured him not explaining his was fair.

What was not fair however, was getting her bed muddy and wrinkled. She had actually bothered to make it for once!

At this point it occurred to Avery that she was probably harboring a fugitive in her bedroom. It also occurred to her that she had no idea where he was going to stay if he refused to leave. She couldn't exactly kick him out in this weather and expect him to sleep in a tree or a shed.

Despite being a downright annoying guy, her haki wasn't picking up on any ill-intent, and she kinda was feeling the whole 'invisible 8ft tall bird guy' vibe that he had. She was pretty certain she didn't want anyone in the world to know about her secret though.

Maybe she could claim that the e-reader was a 'gift'? She didn't like the thought of lying so that would have to be plan B. And hey, maybe having a strong guy around to get her out of messy situations would prove useful. He was too interested in why she was so 'loud' to let her die after all.

...She hoped, anyway. Avery thought that this was all rather manipulative, but considering the guy had declared that he wouldn't leave himself, she might as well make use of it.

"You're staring into the distance. Am I really that boring?"

Snapping back to reality, she realized that Enna had already crawled into the muddy covers.

Avery had a feeling she was going to have to set some house rules.


	15. Gliding

Content warning for discussion of periods and Gods. Not at the same time, that would be weird. Chapter notes at the end!

* * *

Time didn't really have any meaning to Avery. There was only 'Now' and 'Soon'. Weeks passed, and she found herself more and more discontent. The company was mostly great, and her training was coming along spectacularly.

The sea called to her though, despite Avery trying to drown it out.

She had to leave soon.

Her mother's family was made up of sailors and explorers, and her blood ran true. It was also from that side of the family she got her eyesight problems, and from both sides that she got her autism.

Her genetic lottery was giving out prizes like candy, only the prizes were not prizes at all, and more nuisances that had the pleasant side-effects of getting her on disability allowance. Free bus travel was not to be scoffed at.

What was to be scoffed at was the fact that there was no chocolate on this island, and she was slowly being driven up the bend.

Having to suffer through a period here was traumatizing, and Avery's laundry looked like a chainsaw massacre victim had donated their clothes to goodwill. Washable cloth was never going to cut it, and everyone on the damn island synced up for shark week.

Have you ever been in a house of uncountable menstruating people who don't have proper period products? Avery had and she came out a different person because of it.

She felt sorry for Enna, who had to share a bed with her through the process. Uncountable towels were sacrificed to stem the red tide, and Avery's supply had come out the victor, but had sustained numerous casualties.

Five days later and it turned out Enna not only experienced periods, but was somehow _worse than Avery._ She would have feel sorrier for him if he would have stop hogging all her sheets.

Periods products aside, Avery felt like there was so much she was missing out on. The world was huge, she could travel to the moon if she felt like it, and cities existed! Actual cities with actual shops! She could buy clothes that weren't borrowed dresses!

She could find an island that didn't make her sweat so much!

All she had to do was somehow repay the Mama family, manage to find a boat, learn how to navigate, and then find a nice island where she could pee without worrying about Enna or Diana somehow knowing.

It was a bit of a tall order, to be honest. Theoretically, if there were islands nearby Avery could use her devil fruit ability to take her there, but she still had trouble controlling it, and she really didn't want to risk falling into the sea.

Avery was going to be babysitting and doing manual labor for _ever._

* * *

It turned out Enna was a very proficient navigator.

He was also a very proficient _dick._

"I'm not teaching you until you tell me why your light is so bright."

Avery felt like they had become friends after how long they had spent together. It didn't mean she wanted to explain the whole 'alien' thing.

"Enna, my guy, my dude, my pal. I love you but please stop asking me that question! It's private!"

They were sitting in the shade underneath a palm tree, the wind blowing various detritus across the beach and throwing Avery's hair into her face.

"Avery, my woman, my chick, my friend. We've bled together. That's a life bond right there."

Avery felt a bit like a middle-schooler, except her country had no concept of middle school so she wasn't sure what that felt like, exactly.

"I can tell you part of it, but no more than that. And you've gotta promise not to breathe a word of it to anyone, not even yourself, got it?"

Enna shifted forward slightly and nodded his head in agreement.

"I'm...not from here. Alright, um, imagine you're on an isolated island in West Blue, and while you know about the world outside the island, there's no way to get there. And, uh, when you go to bed, you suddenly find yourself awake on an island in East Blue."

Enna looked like a lightbulb had flashed above his head.

"Oh! You're an otherworlder then."

Avery was pretty certain her eyes were going to pop out of her head.

"It's fine Avery, really. The gift I have was given to me. To help people. I think that's what you must be here to do as well."

Avery was struggling to stop staring at him like she'd caught him doing the can-can while wearing stilts and a plague doctor mask.

"Okay. Right. Can we go back to the otherworlder thing? Is. Is that even a thing? Do these people exist? What kinds of beings have the ability to move people across worlds? Help people how?"

Enna was smiling at her in the way that an adult would smile at an especially precocious child. It would have been infuriating if Avery wasn't so out of it.

"In order, yes it is a thing, yes they exist, Gods probably, and getting people out of life-and-death situations, mostly."

Enna paused for a second before continuing.

"In more detail, there are as many worlds as there are stars. I've only ever met two men, both brothers and in much the same position as you, minus the fact that they had hijacked some bodies."

"And the God?"

"Well. I have no definite proof of that. I slipped into a coma at the age of eight and came back seeing lights. It might have been nothing, but the week I spent sleeping I felt like I was talking to someone. They explained a lot to me. My purpose in life, other worlds, that sort of thing."

Avery was feeling very out of her depth.

"Do you think it's the same being? I mean. Assuming there is a being in my case. I did get a mysterious e-reader that doesn't seem to run out of battery, and a fidget spinner so honestly I wouldn't rule out a God being involved."

Enna was laughing at her.

"The two men I was talking about were given something called a 'trunkie', so I wouldn't dismiss that option so easily."

Avery really hoped that it wasn't her trunkie that she had left behind all those months ago. If he got so much as a scratch on him, whoever had being recklessly driving him would be dead.

She got attached to her suitcase, sue her.

* * *

For those wondering, Enna is a transgender guy! It wasn't planned but I'm transgender myself, so I'm always seeing myself in characters.

I started writing this before I had fully realized I was a guy, so that's why Avery isn't one! She's a semi self-insert really.

We're getting closer and closer to canon guys! I'm excited.

I'm planning something pretty spectacular so I hope y'all will enjoy it.


	16. Hurricane

I received a question that I thought was worth sharing with everyone, because I figure I might get it a lot if I don't address it!

Chunkybucket asked what was going on with Avery's gender, so here's the gender rundown!

Avery is bigender! She's both a man and a woman.

I started this story when I knew I was transgender, but still used she/her, so Avery reflects this.

This is completely different from "futa" or whatever weird fetishistic stuff there exists out there about transgender or intersex people.

If you want more info on being nonbinary, google is your friend!

So, tldr, Avery is 20% woman, 20% man and 60% done with everything lol

* * *

An unholy amount of cleaning, cooking, fetching, and babysitting later, and Avery finally felt ready to leave.

She had forgotten that Enna arrived on the island either through flying or sailing, and as it turned out, Cozia was super close to reverse mountain and the calm belt. It made sense really, Germa 66 would have had a better opportunity to pillage and get the hell out of dodge that way.

It also meant it was near the polestar islands.

Loguetown.

They were only a few hours away, and Avery felt like she could risk using her devil fruit for it.

It was a gamble, but hey! You never get anywhere in life without taking risks.

She hoped that the 'God' that had brought her here wanted her alive.

She had left a goodbye note for everyone she had come to know as friends. Avery felt awful leaving without speaking to them but she had a feeling like they knew she was going to leave soon anyway. It was like leaving her family all over again.

If they wanted to find Avery, she had left a list of islands she was likely to visit. It's not like this was goodbye forever. She would visit again.

Enna could find her using his weird light sensing power anyway, so it's not like he wouldn't know where she was. She really had no more reason to stay.

Avery studiously avoided thinking about how her situation was parallel to Sabo's, and transformed. Feet became webbed, a mouth became a bill, arms became wings.

This wasn't the transformation Avery wanted though, so she kept changing. Wings elongated and became legs, feet grew hooves, a bill became a muzzle.

Avery's devil fruit made her a boibhre. A Scottish shapeshifter that inhabited the lochs, it could appear as a giant bird, a water horse, or a bizarre insect that Avery hadn't quite worked out.

She could thank her e-reader for having a bizarre amount on Scottish folklore and one of her late night wikipedia binges for knowing what she was.

Stamping her hooves to make sure she was ready, she ran to the beach and kept running once she reached the water. It had taken her weeks to perfect it and her effort paid off when she hit the ocean running and stayed on top of the waves.

She had to keep moving with no breaks, but as long as she kept a steady pace she should be able to trot her way to Loguetown.

Her calves would not thank her, but it was better than having to fly her way across. She still couldn't fly without it looking like someone had drugged a duck and then set it loose on the unsuspecting masses.

Honestly, that's how she looked all the time, but at least she didn't usually perform unintentional figure eights and bellow like a bull stuck in a china shop.

Ale was still traumatized.

* * *

After a largely uneventful trot, excepting the occasional sea-king sighting, she had arrived at the place of the beginning and the end.

Hopefully not the end for her though. She liked being alive and if the universe wanted her dead it would have to take her fighting. She wasn't above crotch-stomping the grim reaper if that's what it took.

...She was exhausted, in her defense.

Finding a place she could transform without offending those of delicate sensibilities, she turned back into a human without a hitch. Weirdly enough, her clothes remained intact while shifting? It was odd but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak.

She… wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do from here. She needed a job, or a pickpocket class, and then she needed to buy a boat and figure out how the hell you work one.

Avery didn't want to be a pickpocket.

Job search it was.

* * *

After a long and hard search, Avery was no closer to employment. She did however find and befriend the local crow population, so she could probably expect some kind of disease in the future.

Do crows carry disease? Avery wasn't sure. They did carry cool rocks though, which they would give you if you fed them.

Avery may have went through most of her food store, but it _did_ lead to a crow giving her a 1000 beri bill. She wasn't going to touch that with a ten-foot pole.

She used it to buy some fancy-looking fruit loaf, and somehow the crows knew that giving her money would make her buy them the good stuff because she was being followed by at least 3 crows at a time.

It felt a bit like a mafia to be honest.

At the end of the day, after currying food backwards and forwards, she had about 6000 beri to her name, which was enough to afford a down payment on a rickety looking flat.

She was moving up in the world, clearly.


End file.
